Palin Says Media ‘Herd Mentality’ Amplified IA Speech Criticism

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) claimed that a “herd mentality” by the media exacerbated criticism of her speech in Iowa over the weekend on Tuesday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Regarding a possible 2016 run, Palin said “I was asked by a pesky reporter while i was promoting my sportsman channel show, ‘Amazing America with Sarah Palin,’ I was asked if I were to be interested at all in running for office, maybe presidency. And it’s certainly not newsworthy for me to have answered ‘oh, yeah, I’m interested, next question.’ And “I, along with so many others on a deep bench, no doubt are thinking about it. But it’s much too early to say whether I, and I’m sure others would answer the same way, they would be throwing their hat in the ring”

Hannity then asked about the criticism of Palin’s speech over the weekend in Iowa, wondering her teleprompter broke or whether she had copy troubles, to which she responded “well, you know, I don’t read the praise and I don’t read the criticism because I know how you guys, or how the media in general works. I’m used to teleprompters not working, remember at the GOP acceptance speech, back in ’08, the teleprompter broke there, too, it didn’t wor, and I kept on going. So, no, I don’t know, I received a standing ovation throughout, and at the end of the speech. So I don’t know, I think a lot of this herd mentality of some reporters that kind of exacerbates some of the criticism.” Palin further said that she stood by the “content” of the speech.

She also urged “unity” within the GOP, and criticized Bill O’Reilly for a promo for his show on the Fox News Channel, which she dubbed a “quasi, or assumed conservative outlet,” on candidates thinking of running for president where she claimed he dismissed the potential candidacies of herself and Donald Trump as a “reality show.”